McCain: racist, bigot & homophobe

By
August 1, 2008

John McCain, a member of the House of Representatives in the mid-1980s, often held court at a table near the bar at Bullfeathers, a popular Capitol Hill watering hole, telling jokes and matching hangers-on drink by drink.

As a Capitol Hill chief of staff, I often drank at Bullfeathers and was invited to join the throng at McCain’s table one evening. A few minutes listening to the racism, bigotry and homophobia of the Arizona Congressman told me all I needed to know.

McCain loved to tell jokes about lesbians, blacks, Hispanics and the Vietnamese community that occupied a large section of Arlington County, Virginia, just south of the District of Columbia.

Of course, McCain didn’t use polite language in the jokes: He used names like "fags" or "queers" or "dykes" or "niggers" or "spics" or "wetbacks" or "gooks."

A typical McCain joke (overheard at Bullfeathers):

Two dykes are talking at a bar and one leaves. As she walks toward the door, the other watches her leave and says out loud: "God, I’ve love to eat her out."

Two men are standing near by and one turns to the other and says: "I’d like to do the same. Guess that makes me a dyke."

Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’

When he ran for the Senate, I attended a gathering of GOP operatives at the National Republican Senatorial Committee where McCain outlined his campaign strategy:

I play to win. I do whatever it takes to win. If I have to fuck my opponent to win I’ll do it. If I have to destroy my opponent I won’t give it a second thought.

McCain’s so-called sense of humor has no limits when it comes to simple human decency. Shortly after former President Ronald Reagan announced he had Alzheimer’s Disease, McCain told this joke at a GOP Fundraiser:

Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain’s intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain’s hair and said, "You’re getting a little thin up there." McCain’s face reddened, and he responded, "At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." McCain’s excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days.

This is the man the Republican Party thinks should be the next President of the United States. What else should we expect from a party that promotes racism, homophobia and discrimination against anyone with a different skin color, sexual orientation or ethnic origin?

So we shouldn’t be surprised that McCain’s campaign strategy seeks to raise racial fear about Barack Obama, the first African-American with a serious shot at the Presidency of the United States.

John McCain is a racist: Always has been, always will be. A retired Naval officer who says he served with McCain in the Navy says he treated black sailors with disrespect and scorn. McCain refuses to release his detailed military record and some sources say that record includes incidents that include issues with black sailors.

Such attitudes are part of his family history. As noted by a black poster in Talking Points Memo:

I can’t love America the same way John McCain does. When his daddy was Admiral, my daddy was mopping floors. And when his granddaddy was Admiral, all the Blacks in the entire Navy were mopping floors. But they still volunteered and went to war, even when their commanders didn’t think they were brave enough to fight. So who loves America more? The cook on the ship who couldn’t vote in 15 states, or the Admiral who dined on the meals he slaved over?

McCain’s collection of off-color jokes are riddled with racist words and sentiments. Advisors have toned down the raunchy rhetoric of his early years in Congress but close aides say his attitudes have not changed.

McCain opposed making the birthday of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King a national holiday. During his 2000 campaign for President, he told reporters on his "Straight Talk Express: "I hated the gooks (North Vietnamese). I will hate them as long as I live."

It is offensive because by using a racial epithet that has historically been used to demean all Asians to describe his captors, McCain failed to make a distinction between his torturers and an entire racial group.

It is alarming because a major candidate for president publicly used a racial epithet, refused to apologize for doing so and remains a legitimate contender.

For his 2000 campaign for President, McCain hired Richard Quinn, founder and editor in chief of Southern Heritage Magazine, to serve as his spokesman in South Carolina.

Quinn’s articles have called Nelson Mandela a "terrorist" and King a man "whose role in history was to lead his people into a perpetual dependence on the welfare state, a terrible bondage of body and soul." In another piece, Quinn said of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, "What better way to reject politics as usual than to elect a maverick like David Duke?" though he did condemn Duke’s bigotry.

Irwin A. Tank, author of Gook: John McCain’s Racism, notes a long and sordid history of racism from the presumptive GOP nominee, including:

McCain’s use of the anti-Asian slur "gook" publicly for 27 years before dropping the use for his current Presidential run;

McCain’s endorsement of George Wallace Jr., a frequent speaker at white supremacist events;

His vote against establishing a holiday for Martin Luther King’s birthday and then another vote to rescind the holiday.

In answering a question about divorced fathers and child support, McCain called the children "tar babies."

The list goes on and on.

What else do you expect from a racist, bigot and homophobe?

(Updated on Aug. 2 & 3, 2008, to include additional material and links)

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64 Responses to McCain: racist, bigot & homophobe

Timr

August 1, 2008 at 4:50 pm

excellent post. McCain is not the only racist in the repig party, he has lots and lots of company. The new angle is that it is ok to be a racist if you are talking about illegal immigrants-who mostly come from Mexico. Add them to the rest of the hate list that the repigs stand for.

rockpyle

August 1, 2008 at 5:28 pm

Hmmmmmm, interesting article.

Just four years ago John Kerry was begging John McCain to be his running mate and many in the Democratic Party were excited about the possibilities. Now that he is running against the annointed one he must be a racist.

pollchecker

August 1, 2008 at 7:15 pm

I hope someone will ask him how many times he has used the “N” word in his life? I’m sure he will either lie or change the subject which is his most recently used tactics.

People need to remember this when they talk about not voting. This could be the man nominating several Supreme Court justices as well as appointing Federal Appellate Judges, etc., etc.

JudyB

August 1, 2008 at 8:44 pm

This country is populated with too many seemingly well mannered, amiable, polite people who are in truth, racists and bigots. It sickens me to know this race will get dirtier as we get closer to election day. There was not a single candidate who escaped the primaries unscathed. If I didn’t know better I would think that the USA found the scum of the nation to run for our president…and from what we’ve had serving for the past 7 1/2 years, anyone thinking that would be correct.

I want to know the truth, and it is nearly impossible to decipher what one reads and hears there is so much out there. I have no reason to doubt what Doug has said today, it dosen’t surprise me in the least, especially when they were all drinking.

I have never considered voting for McCain. In 2000 it was because of his uncontrolled temper, but now its because of his stance on the war, his Bush butt kissing, and his chameleon like character.

Rockpyl..where do you get you information? I clearly remember hearing McCain being asked by a tv reporter
“would you consider running as John Kerry’s Vice President” He answered with a quick “NO”.. a short while later, when he was asked the same question by another reporter this time, he answered “I would consider it” This said, I do not remember hearing anywhere at any time that Kerry had actually ask him to run with him.

I will vote for Obama…and for the record, I am more interested in who will be in his cabinet than his running mate.

Warren

August 2, 2008 at 1:26 am

I view John McCain as a natural representative of his combination of time and place. Consider his time: He’s 72 years old. The world was not nearly so politically correct for most of his political lifetime. The simple fact is that gender, ethnicity, sexual preference and similar social differences were fair game for joviality until fairly recently. That’s the way the world was when you were listening and John was telling jokes. That doesn’t make him evil. That makes him a man of his time at the time you quote him.

Has he evolved into a man of the time *now*? Partially, I think.

Then there is the matter of his place. I am a resident of Arizona for 12 years. The Phoenix area is one of the most cosmopolitan in the U.S. Everyone is from somewhere else. To call Arizona a hotbed of racism is to be malevolently ignorant.

Dang, I hate defending John McCain. I have no inclination of voting for him whatsoever. I don’t even like him. But I don’t like this sort of blinders-on diatribe against the man.

You aren’t understanding, just ranting.

DejaVuAllOver

August 2, 2008 at 2:39 am

Diatribe, Warren? The man factually told of a personal experience with subject. This is the farthest from “diatribe” or “rant” I have ever read from Doug. Sometimes the facts are so ugly they don’t need any help telling the story! Rock on, Doug!

Warren

August 2, 2008 at 3:48 am

I don’t know how old you are, DejaVu. I’m 57 years old and I’ve seen the world change tremendously, several times over.

I remember the time about 20 years ago when I was working for a major international corporation. In one meeting I called a particular project a “Tar Baby”. We’re talking about a technical project that once someone was attached to, one could not get free from. That’s what I associated with “Tar Baby”. Next thing I knew I was damn near hung from the corporate yardarm for political incorrectness.

Times change. Drastically. People change. Like him or hate him, judge John McCain by what he is now against the social norms of now, not by what he said decades ago against the social norms of now.

Phil Hoskins

August 2, 2008 at 5:05 am

Well I am older than you and i never talked like that. We always knew what racism was and always had the choice to join in or not.

McCain is a hateful, angry, weak man. Anyone who ends every statement with a shit eating smile like he does should not only not be president, he should be retired immediately.

How dare you justify his hateful statements based on “different times.”

Phil Hoskins

Warren

August 2, 2008 at 3:18 am

I never talked like that either. I deplore it. But none of this makes John McCain a racist. It makes him a politician making inappropriate jokes by today’s standards for the benefit of a small circle of friends at his table at a restaurant 30 years ago. Jeez!

And man, I hate like hell defending John McCain.

Warren

August 2, 2008 at 3:42 am

Phil, by the way, please note that every comment you make, or have ever made, will be held to the politically correct standards of the year 2032. Whatever those are.

Gee, I wonder why, if you have a black man running for high public office — say, Barack Obama or Harold Ford — the opposition feels compelled to run low-life political ads featuring tacky, sexually provocative white women who have no connection whatsoever to the black male candidates.

Spare me any more drivel about the high-mindedness of John McCain. You knew something was up back in March when, in his first ad of the general campaign, Mr. McCain had himself touted as “the American president Americans have been waiting for.” CONTINUED

ekaton

August 2, 2008 at 9:03 am

I read the article, Hal. Sadly, the Republicans have decided to make race a wedge issue, just as they do with guns and abortions. They’re a nasty bunch.

Obama’s race is irrelevant. Neither party is willing to address the real issues in any meaningful way.

Obama’s latest ploy is to pander to the voters with promise of a $1000 “rebate” because of high gasoline prices. This is yet one more LOAN forced upon the American people because it is a “rebate” made with BORROWED money that must be repaid with interest. Financed with 30-year treasury notes means we will pay back $2000 for that $1000 gift. What a deal!

McCain is a racist.

— Kent Shaw

pollchecker

August 2, 2008 at 9:35 am

Anyone who ends every statement with a shit eating smile like he does should not only not be president, he should be retired immediately.

Not to state the obvious, but these advertisements are created by experts in their field who know how to insert subliminal messages into ads.

Sandra Price

August 2, 2008 at 12:50 pm

Phil, I am older than anyone here and I was raised in California among racists, homophobes and anti-semites. I didn’t buy it then (1942) and I don’t buy it now. But I backed out of the church at that same time and began a life of total independence against all hatred. Until I moved to Havasu, I saw little of the religious right pandering for social laws. My moving to Sun City (N.W. of Phoenix) all the hatred came back with my neighbors, my rec center members and I was suddenly judged as nothing but an old aged hippy. When I tell people my kids attended Berkeley they turn and walk away. Hearing people talk about hatred has nearly ruined my life. Not because they are slandering me but my family and friends.

There is no justification for this kind of hatred for mankind that has taken over American values. I have three adult children and they never ever made the kind of comments we hear on the streets of Sun City or any city. That was where this bigotry stopped. I feel a need to cleanse myself and get out of here as soon as possible. I’m looking at Tampa Bay as I cannot afford to go back to California. My kids tell me it is a funky area with few Christians directing the dialog. How helpless I feel here surrounded by such ignorance.

You are correct and we must stop justifying this terrible bigotry and racism. If we can’t do it, who will?

sherry

August 2, 2008 at 4:19 pm

I find this whole article appalling. Obviously, as long as Doug rants against McCain, he is a hero.
McCain has adopted a child from Bangledesh. I would think if he was truly a racist, the child would have remained in her native home.
Anyone who says they have never used a politically incorrect term here is lying. For instance, a ‘coon to me was a wild critter roaming in the woods. Only when I referred to the critter did someone inform me it was a racial slur. I had no idea.
Let’s not try to be so politically correct. I daresay Obama has used the N word.Lord knows his rap buddies do.
So what’s up that only old white guys can be bigots?
If someone held me captive for 5 years, I might feel I had earned the right to call them something nasty for a few years. The term “gooks” was common among Vets at the time.
Talk about the issues. At least he doesn’t have belong to a church whose services regularly dissed the old white guys.
The white guy who moved me told of his black friend who was ticked he couldn’t get an extra large T shirt dipicting the KKK with the caption, “the original boyz in da hood”
Just goes to show not everyone is that politically correct.
Thank God.

Chuckumentary

August 2, 2008 at 5:11 pm

The book author of Gook: John McCain’s Racism and Why It Matters is Irwin Tang. Here is a short video where Tang makes his case for McCain’s racism and it’s connection to other war-prone comments he’s made:

When my late father — Religious Right leader Francis Schaeffer — and I were the guests of Jerry Falwell at Liberty Baptist College, Falwell said to us quite casually and seriously, while speaking of the “homosexual problem,” that: “If I had a dog that did what they do I take it out and shoot it.” And when it came to saying God was damning America he and Pat Robertson sided with the 9/11 hijackers by saying the terrorist’s actions served America right and were God’s punishment. Yet John McCain went to Liberty Baptist College and spoke for Falwell, in order to “mend fences” with the Religious Right. He said he no longer believed that Falwell was “an agent of intolerance.” And Rudy Giuliani gladly accepted Robertson’s endorsement. So much for the Republican “mainstream.”

Fair is fair. So where are the clips — playing incessantly next to Hillary Clinton’s picture — of her antiwar friends and Bill Clinton’s fellow draft dodger members of the New Left, cursing and damning America during Vietnam War protests and since? The company that Bill and Hillary kept in the late 1960s through the 1970s was defined by damning America and sometimes by rooting for the North Vietnamese. Anti-American spewing also came from left wing white preachers. Read the fiery sermons of the late Episcopal bishop of New York Paul Moore, Jr. who raged against America.

Bishop Moore, in his 1997 autobiography, Presences: A Bishop’s Life in the City, wrote that the end of the Cold War had left the United States “like a wounded rooster crowing on the top of the dung heap.” Blaming “corporate greed and lust” as well as “unbridled nationalism” for manufacturing causes for war, Moore cursed America as often as he served communion.

McCain is an Episcopalian. Where are the clips of the anti-American rantings of Bishop Moore and not a few other Episcopalian pastors and bishops, next to McCain’s picture?

Want to play this smear-by-association game? Okay, while McCain was a prisoner of war his bishop Moore was rooting for McCain’s torturers. How can McCain be a member of that denomination and be a real American, let alone commander in chief? Isn’t it time he explains his anti-American white associations? Isn’t it time McCain gives a speech to explain what it means to be a white in bed with hate-America white liberals..?

Sherry while I agree with you that everyone has used inappropriate language at times but McCain has said a lot of inappropriate things.

I have posted an article which quoted him calling his wife a HORRIBLE WORD which I won’t repeat (Vietname Vets won’t vote for McCain). This guy is just another GW in different clothing! A rose by any other name is still a rose!

Actually, I would like a POTUS that is politically correct. I’m really tired of 8 years of some Bozo making inappropriate jokes. They can say what they will about Clinton but at least no one ever accused him of making inappropriate racist remarks and being from Arkansas, I’m sure if he had, the public would have heard about it.

Chuckumentary

August 2, 2008 at 5:21 pm

I think it’s questionable to brush all of McCain’s documented use of racial and sexist epithets under the rug, under the guise of railing against political correctness.

In any case, McCain’s child from Bangladesh doesn’t prove or disprove anything. He’s on the record saying his wife brought the child home without consulting him. I think it’s wonderful and compassionate that she did, but it also doesn’t cancel out all the things McCain has said.

almandine

August 2, 2008 at 7:09 pm

So much for the kinder and gentler Doug who was to heal instead of rave, rant, and throw shit at people…

Ho hum, back to reality.

pollchecker

August 2, 2008 at 7:31 pm

Doug’s just being fair. He has already stated that Obama is unfit to be POTUS and now he has called McCain a racist. That leaves Bob Barr, Ralph Nader and? In other words he is just echoing the sentiments of many around here….that none of the above should be our next POTUS? So who does that leave? Another 4 years of Bush/Cheney perhaps?

Besides wasn’t McCain calling Obama a racist the other day? And even when he would be justified in doing so, Senator Obama never has used that word against McCain in reply. That should tell people something, right there, without any further explanation, shouldn’t it?

And…..not that it makes any difference, but I felt this rant was a softer, gentler rant. It’s all in the words used. Which means a rant will always be a rant simply by definition.

WORDS MATTER! I think that’s something everyone here can agree on.

Flapsaddle

August 2, 2008 at 7:36 pm

It’s now your turn in the barrel, sir! You have failed to join the Amen! pew in the attempted criminalization of the thought processes of McCain. I do not consider you as having tried to justify McCain’s remarks, rather I thought you to have offered a rationale as to why without making it an excuse.

For the record, I am not a fan of either McCain or Obama; In the election, I will either vote a third person or I will cast no presidential ballot at all.

Most sincerely,

T. J. Flapsaddle

sherry

August 2, 2008 at 7:43 pm

uh Poll, McCain is an Anglican. Hd dissed Falwell and Robertson for their comments. At least those two blowhards apologized. Rev Wright never did. McCain was never a member of the Falwell brigade. Obama’s spiritual advisor was his spiritual advisor for 20 years.
In any case, my bullshit tolerancy level is at an all time low. Time to sign off.

Baal

August 2, 2008 at 8:02 pm

“I don’t know how old you are, DejaVu. I’m 57 years old and I’ve seen the world change tremendously, several times over. ”

Warren, I dont buy it!!! Im 54, and I KNEW what the term “Tar Baby” meant when I was 14 years old….

McSame is in the public fish bowl, and back in 1982, he SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER!!!

Good story Doug….

JudyB

August 2, 2008 at 11:44 pm

Phil, every comment you made is correct..times do change and so does social mores. I have always thought it awful to use racist remarks, so I haven’t… but, that does’t mean that I have not been around when they were used, and not done anything to try and stop it. We have all heard the vulgar adages like “nigger rich” “theres a nigger in the woodshed”..remember playing with a babies toes and saying “eenie meanie minee mo etc.” and they weren’t catching monkies by the toe back in those days…Mark twain even used the word “nigger” in Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn and during the era of world war two, Japanese were all referred to as “Japs” or “Gooks”… remember when living together before marriage was not common but doctors smoking in hospitals and in advertisements were? It was no more proper then to talk like that than it is now, except today its not acceptable. Now its called being “politically incorrect” and someone is going to call you out for using that type language..at least in public. The list of changes as to what is now socially acceptable but was not 50 years ago would be a mile long, far Too many changes to for this old broad to count.

wolf3973

August 3, 2008 at 2:49 am

This is such a horrible example of journalism. The piece is riddled with quotes that don’t actually exemplify the points that are trying to be made, and in some cases come close to contradicting the points that are trying to be made.

Example: McCain is a racist because a black poster feels he loves America more because his ancestors weren’t as privileged as McCain’s were. WHAT?! Think hard on who is racist in that statement, it’s not McCain, but the poster that was quoted that is saying that blacks in America love America more by virtue of the color of their skin.

I don’t doubt McCain is possibly a racist, he’s made public comments before, but why not quote one of those?!

Writing such crap should get authors removed from their posts. At least find more appropriate evidence to back up your assertions. The only appropriate quote to the assertions of the article was the quote about the Mexicans… good job you’re one for seven.

almandine

August 3, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Fair or not, it’s back to square one on the Rant-O-Meter. Not exactly the “Change Starts Here” of a new day in River City. So maybe words don’t always matter…

Paolo

August 3, 2008 at 6:38 pm

Excellent column, Doug.

As an Arizonan since 1992, I have long known John McCain as a vile, racist, red-faced, ill-tempered, foul-mouthed little man. Yet the press treats him with a strange deference, never bringing up his sordid history of loutish bigotry.

Now, I am no fan of Obama, but observe how the press (especially the nitwit Hannity) have repeated the Jeremiah Wright quotations endlessly–despite the fact these are words Obama himself never used!

I hope and pray McCain has a foul-mouthed “meltdown” sometime between now and November. As president, he would be just like George W. Bush, except older and meaner.

bettysdad

August 3, 2008 at 6:59 pm

I am shocked. Absolutely shocked.

McCain’s a Republican. The basis of that party has been racism for over 40 years.

What do you think Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” was about? A deep love of biscuits?

It’s long past time we gave these thugs a pass that lets them act like normal people.

Call them out.

I do.

Paolo

August 3, 2008 at 7:03 pm

By the way, I’ve noticed two other facets of McCain.

First, he looks like the weird alien in that old Star Trek episode from the 60’s–the guy who misleads the children and ends up turning into a hideous, tumor-covered monstrosity in the end.

Second, if he just spoke with a hint of a German accent, he would be the greatest Peter Lorre impersonator of all time. Especially when he does that creepy, inappropriate little laugh. You remember it: “Bomb, bomb, bomb–Bomb, bomb Iran. Hee hee hee hee.”

Image if he said, “I loved her, so I chust had to strangle her!” Yup, Peter Lorre, all the way.

Calvin King

August 3, 2008 at 8:06 pm

Warren it’s statement like yours the reason racism will not die.

The things this article claimed McCain done 20 years ago were’nt right then either. Calling it “the norm”, does’nt lessing it, it sheds an insensitive light on your character. You can bet those comments hurt 20 years ago when he said them. It would be foolish to believe he has changed given his stance on MLK’s holiday, which was a recent incident. I’m sure you have seen this world change alot in your 57 years of life, but that’s because you’re not on the business end of the stick. The family of Sean Bell, the young man who was shot 50 times by NYPD, would strongly disagree with you. You see, police were killing innocent 20 years ago and further back than that. You have 30 years on me, and even I know that.

Let me ask you this, why tar baby? Out of all the adhidsive things in he world to make a sticky reference to, that’s best one you could come up with?
Your reasoning just doesn’t seem viable, because when you think “tarbaby”, your excuse isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, it seemed like you tried to test the waters and when you didn’t get any followers, you tried to clean it up.

The one thing I can say that has changed, is that bigots, no longer know they are bigots.

Flapsaddle

August 3, 2008 at 9:45 pm

Now! Now! Lets’s be reasonable here…

…after all, our host and numerous posters are just calling a spade a spade… (a term without racial context, a way of saying that words are not being minced)

…just think of it in terms of any praise for McCain being niggardly… (another term w/o racial animus – unless you are a member of the city council of WDC)

…and we certainly do not expect anyone to get stuck to that tar-baby… (the only term with any possible racial connection: The Uncle Remus) stories of Joel Chandler Harris – but the “tar-baby” is not a reference to a black person)

Most sincerely,

T. J. Flapsaddle

SMOOKS

August 4, 2008 at 1:31 am

Carlton(we do NOT have the best politicians money can buy)Harmon

McCain is no more a hero than all the other people who fought in all the wars. The fact that he stayed locked up for five years does not make him better or more special than the rest who served and died or was wounded or got back unharmed but still with the memories of war.

As I understand it the deal about him being offered an early release and he refused to leave before the rest of the men is wrong. It is said he could NOT leave before the men under him because he would face a court martial as he was a ranking officer. If I am wrong, I stand corrected.

acf

August 4, 2008 at 1:32 am

If you think that McCain is bad, then imagine how bad the Republican party is to think he is their best chance for president.

almandine

August 4, 2008 at 8:43 am

Good comment…

Reminds me of the time when the sexual harrassment class was asked if anyone knew the meaning of “quid pro quo”… to which the retort was “Tit-for-Tat”. True story…

Pablo

August 4, 2008 at 10:11 am

Now we know
how he finds it so easy to murder Iraqis with spent-uranium munitions and cluster bombs… They are minorities.

ekaton

August 4, 2008 at 1:58 pm

“Not to state the obvious, but these advertisements are created by experts in their field who know how to insert subliminal messages into ads.”

Exactly. And in the case of the Obama/Hilton/Spears ad, they were zeroing in on the “mandingo factor” group of racists out there.

— Kent Shaw

Stratocaster

August 4, 2008 at 6:05 pm

Mc Cain is an asshole. Gee, a politician that is an asshole. Tell me something I don’t know. CHB has fallen into the same trap as all other news sources, and that is reporting insignificant crap that diverts attention away from the high crimes and treasons that have been committed. Until our present batch of elected criminals are held accountable for their crimes, it will do no good to replace them with anouther. Accountability, does anyone remember that word?

rockpyle

August 4, 2008 at 3:43 pm

Rockpyl..where do you get you information? I clearly remember hearing McCain being asked by a tv reporter
“would you consider running as John Kerry’s Vice President” He answered with a quick “NO”.. a short while later, when he was asked the same question by another reporter this time, he answered “I would consider it” This said, I do not remember hearing anywhere at any time that Kerry had actually ask him to run with him.

JudyB,
I have provided a link below to an article by the New York Times written four years ago that talks about John Kerry repeatedly asking John McCain to be his running-mate.

It’s interesting to me how just four years ago McCain was called an “independent-minded Arizona Republican”. Now he’s being labelled a racist and a neo-con.

TONILEB022109

August 4, 2008 at 3:53 pm

ANYONE WHO WOULD VOTE FOR A OLD, RACIST LOSER, IS DESTINED TO MAKE THIS WORLD MORE SCREWED UP THAN IT ALREADY IS. IF OBAMA OR ANY OTHER DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE WOULD HAVE MADE ANY COMMENTS LIKE THE COMMENTS THE OLD MAN HAS MADE, THEN THE MEDIA WOULD BE ALL OVER IT. IT IS VERY SAD THAT THE MEDIA DOES’NT PUT OLD MANS DIRTY DEEDS ALL OVER THE TELEVISION. I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL OBAMA WINS, AND OLD MAN IS LOOKING LIKE THE IDIOT HE IS. HE HATES THE FACT THAT OBAMA HAS A FOLLOWING AND THAT NEW PEOPLE ARE REGISTERING TO VOTE BECAUSE OF HIM. PLAYING DIRTY GOT US 8 YEARS OF G.W., WE REALLY DON’T NEED ANOTHER 4 YEARS OF THIS. OLD MAN IS AND IDIOT, WHO LEFT HIS FIRST WIFE BECAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT THAT LEFT HER DISFIGURED, LOOK AT HIM NOW. GOD DON’T LIKE UGLY, AND HE IS AS UGLY AS IT GETS. THE MEDIA IS SO BIASED, AND I’M REALLY STARTING TO BELIEVE, THAT THAT’S REASON WHY G.W. GOT ELECTED IN THE FIRST PLACE. WE NEED CHANGE, AND OLD MAN IS NOT IT. GET IT TOGETHER AMERICA.

Stratocaster

August 4, 2008 at 6:14 pm

Is anyone paying any attention to what is going on in the House Judiciary Committee?

Hal Brown

August 4, 2008 at 6:53 pm

McCain sleaze factor addition comes from NYTimes OpEd columnist Bob Herbert who added to his reminding those in the MSM who either forgot or a pretending not to know that

Now, from the hapless but increasingly venomous McCain campaign, comes the slimy Britney Spears and Paris Hilton ad. The two highly sexualized women (both notorious for displaying themselves to the paparazzi while not wearing underwear) are shown briefly and incongruously at the beginning of a commercial critical of Mr. Obama.

The Republican National Committee targeted Harold Ford with a similarly disgusting ad in 2006 when Mr. Ford, then a congressman, was running a strong race for a U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee. The ad, which the committee described as a parody, showed a scantily clad woman whispering, “Harold, call me.”

Both ads were foul, poisonous and emanated from the upper reaches of the Republican Party. (What a surprise.) Both were designed to exploit the hostility, anxiety and resentment of the many white Americans who are still freakishly hung up on the idea of black men rising above their station and becoming sexually involved with white women. (emphasis added) Read “Running While Black”

As I have noted before, nothing in these ads gets there by accident. Created by experts in sending subliminal messages to those so inclined to perceive them unconsciously, they can be powerful persuaders.

Those like Bob Herbert who are savvy observers pick up the messages. Nobody else on Morning Joe even noticed the inclusion of the phallic symbols.

When Herbert pointed it out, except for Pat Buchanan, they seemed to agree there probably was an intentional use of them to engender fear.

You are right Chief, but you must know that the majority of Arizonans are very much the same. I moved to Goldwater country for the fresh air and freedoms that were so much a part of Goldwater’s agenda. I am ashamed of Arizona voters but I cannot do or say a single thing about it.

The decision of who we elect is coming from white religious straight men and we had better know it. McCain represents his state accurately. This has tainted the Republican Party and only a third choice could save us from this kind of candidate. I remember the “tar babies” comment and it made me sick.

Is there any chance at stopping this abusive racism?

Hal Brown

August 5, 2008 at 8:30 pm

Is Doug Thompson a liar?

More people need to see the racist and bigoted side of McCain. As Doug’s column, now the second most read ever of CHB moving towards number one, some of those who comment on other threads (Digg for example) are dismissing what he said by basically saying he made the story up about sitting at a table with McCain and other Republicans and hearing the actual racist jokes.

They discount Doug’s credibility, mentioning the times Doug trusted sources who lied to him. He has since apologized and removed the columns based on what he was told.

But this is an account that comes from something Doug himself witnessed, not something he was told about. People doubting whether it is true or not should ask themselves why he would risk his reputation and that of Capitol Hill Blue (which he founded in 1994) by lying.

How in the world can his supporters see anything in this man from the bottom of the shit hole that he stands in ?

From my vantage point, it again as in 2000/2004 is whitewashing the pig neocon style

Dougs commentary should be on every major and minor news source to shut these fools up once and for all so we can get to the real issues that plague this nation.

Hal Brown

August 1, 2008 at 10:55 am

Everyone can help publicize this in three ways:

1) Sign on to one of the social news networks below the column (Digg, Delicious, Reddict etc.) and submit it.

2) Send it to everyone who you think needs to know (use BCC not CC). Urge them to send it on.

3) Put a note about it on other websites which have similar comments sections.

As is said in cyber-speak, this needs to go viral. Maybe then the MSM will notice.

btchakir

August 3, 2008 at 10:36 am

This must be read by everyone who hears McCain say that Obama is “playing the race card”. This is just his backhande, Rove inspired way of making race a forefront issue.

I have posted a clip from this article and a connection to it on my blog, Under The LobsterScope, and I submit that all concerned bloggers should do the same as a favor to their readers.

spartacus

August 1, 2008 at 12:51 pm

I wish I could say this comes as a surprise. However, given the racial attitudes of many Republicans, and many Arizonans (my ex lives there), it is not at all surprising. What gets me is that McCain has gotten away with it. However, he’s gotten away with so much over the years, including that disgusting, awful ape rape joke, which the press fully enables him to do. Being a war hero should not make a person immune to the rules of decent society (such as staying with your wife despite disfiguring injuries and not abandonning her for a richer, prettier model, another Republican trait, like his good friend Newt) nor the scrutiny necessary to evaluate a presidential candidate. Yet ‘Teflon John” escapes every flub, mistake, and misdeed unscathed by an adoring press. He complains about Obama’s coverage, but they’d jump on the Democrat for any one of McCain’s missteps.

McCain and his surrogates use race: Obama gets accused of it by the media. HOW TYPICAL!!!

Ladywolf55

August 1, 2008 at 12:54 pm

I’ve sent a blurb out to everyone I know along with a link back to this article. Let’s hope this news gets around.

ekaton

August 1, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Doug, you need to foreward this rant to the New York Times and the Washington Post at least. If they refuse to follow up via their own fact checking and due diligence then that makes both of those respected institutions just as racist as John McCain.

Hopefully McCain will be caught exhibiting his blatant racism on camera in front of an open mic.

War hero? War heroes drop thousands of pounds of iron fragmentation bombs on peasants? Is that what war heroes do these days? I guess so. What a man! I thought war heroes faced live fire while dragging their wounded buddies to safety. I thought war heroes jumped on live grenades to save nearby children. I thought war heroes went above and beyond the call of duty, putting their own lives in danger to save others. I guess I was wrong.

— Kent Shaw

darknyt4

August 1, 2008 at 2:25 pm

Most Republicans feel this way. While most would not go out an burn a cross on a black person’s lawn, if they came upon one, they might take time to roast a few marshmellows. Most of them don’t seem to have any problem with an African American serving in the White House. As long as it’s dinner they are serving and not sitting in the Oval Office. What can you expect from a party whose spiritual leadr is Marie Anntoinette?
*********************************************************
As they say around the Texas Legislature, if you
can’t drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against ‘em anyway, you don’t belong in office.-Molly Ivins

Flapsaddle

August 1, 2008 at 2:27 pm

McCain’s turn in the barrel has arrived.

All of you fretful, angst-laden Rant-readers who were convinced that our host was part of the Obama campaign, or a misogynist, or helping McCain win by knocking both Democratic contenders, please note that the presumptive GOP nominee has now been the target of a solid broadside.

And no, this does not mean that our host is now campaigning for Obama.

Most sincerely,

T. J. Flapsaddle

MainstreamExtremist

August 1, 2008 at 2:31 pm

Interesting.

I don’t think it is shocking to say that the GOP has been the home of choice for racists, homophobes, xenophobes, christo-fascists, etc since the damn liberal, dope-smoking hippies turned American upside down. Greatest generation my @ss! They gave birth to the commie pinkos!

That was fun.

Anywho, Obama is being too polite as are most Democrats who know in their hearts that the GOP subtly (and sometimes not so much) appeal to the emotions, prejudices and fears of this reactionary constituency of their party. Sure, the party, its committees and politicians all pretend to not endorse the extremists in their midst. Nevertheless, election after election they bait them (gay marriage, Mexicans stealing jobs, stem cells, etc.) to get them to the polls.

Yet, I was never quite prepared to think of McCain as a racist. Although, he strikes me as very old school in some of the worst ways. So, it would not be out of the realm of conceivability to imagine McCain as harboring the attitudes you describe.

Republicans really need to be shamed into denouncing the agents of intolerance, prejudice, fear, etc. among them — much like McCain did with evangelicals — when he was against them before he was for them.

Sandra Price

August 6, 2008 at 9:07 am

This whole McCain discussion is based on denial by many Republicans. When I started taking a good long ethical look at the Republican Party in 2000, I was called a pathological liar. This label is still mine on a site called Faded Forum. Doug has made a reputation as a journalist through his honest observations of both sides of the aisle.

Most of us here recognize wrong over right when we see it and partisanship has nothing to do with it. There is a mania against people who write things unacceptable to others. It has gone beyond the two party system and is now a fight for American values. Doug has always seen the hypocrisy in both parties and has exposed it.

I saw a different hypocrisy which came with the religious right who saw and took their one chance at bringing Jesus Christ into the power of the Federal Government, under G.W. Bush. Nothing ever shook me any harder than this abuse of Christianity.

I am not a Christian but to see how quickly millions of people fell into a movement of control nearly lost me my sanity. I knew what would happen and I was right. Corruption followed these religious people from the very beginning of 9/11 and everything that has followed.

Another book was introduced this week by David Suskin and again it points to President Bush and the Republican Cabinet who lied and cheated from the first day of his presidency to take us into Iraq. He defeated McCain in the 2000 election and must have bought his support by a promise of the 2008 election and that is where we sit today.

The Republican Party is running on the leadership of pathological liars to keep America in a never-ending war in the Middle East for oil. It is supported by the religious right whose endgame is finally to declare that America is a Christian nation at all cost!

This is not my America! This is closer to the Vatican where one man rules without a Legislative and Judicial part of the government.

Personally I’m not convinced that either party is competent to get America out of this mess. I am all the more convinced that a third party must be formed before the end of 2012 when it might be possible for organized something based on freedom, not corruption.

Doug has shared his experiences when he was in D.C. and he has given us an insight to McCain that normally would not have been given. If we need an enemy to shoot at, Doug is the wrong target. I take it at Faded to try to keep them out of here.

eggplant43

August 9, 2008 at 2:31 am

Anyone who watches and listens understands that the Republican Party is institutionally racist. My late wife, while walking into a bathroom in Texas in 1999 was adjacent to two nice Republican women who were rejoicing at GW Bush’s candidacy. She heard them say “he’ll put those N’s in their place”. She was not surprised, but she was appalled being a recovering Republican. She had actually been a Goldwater Girl.

I am also reminded of the two, rather prominent black Republicans who were turned away in California for being in the wrong place in 1999, hardly an isolated incident. Now I have Republican friends that I consider to be good, honorable people, but at the national professional campaign level, I dare say, not a one of them is worth spit.

I think if you read Doug’s article in context when he said he’d rapidly learned all he needed to know, then it makes sense. We all know a bigot when we see one, no matter how the pig is dressed.

cod4gamah

October 20, 2008 at 10:55 am

They discount Doug’s credibility, mentioning the times Doug trusted sources who lied to him. He has since apologized and removed the columns based on what he was told.

But this is an account that comes from something Doug himself witnessed, not something he was told about. People doubting whether it is true or not should ask themselves why he would risk his reputation and that of Capitol Hill Blue (which he founded in 1994) by lying.

this is about mcCain’s interview with Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press on Oct. 26, 2008. This makes me wonder about just how much of a racist he might be.

Brokaw gave him a gift and McCain didn’t even recognize it. Brokaw showed him a short but noxious clip of Rush Limbaugh’s diatribe about Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama being based only on race, and asked him if he agreed.

This was a perfect opportunity for McCain to disavow Rush and his ilk. Instead he mumbled a barely audible “no” and changed the subject to all the secretaries of state and generals who have endorsed him.

(Videotape)

MR. RUSH LIMBAUGH: (screaming) It was totally about race. The Powell nomination, or endorsement, total, totally about race.

(End videotape)

MR. BROKAW: Do you agree with Rush Limbaugh?

SEN. McCAIN: No. I’m disappointed in General Powell, but I’m very, very happy to know that five former secretaries of state who I admire enormously–Henry Kissinger, Jim Baker, Larry Eagleburger, Al Hague–Jim Baker, Henry Kissinger, Al Hague, Larry Eagleburger and one other, and over 200 retired flag general–generals and admirals are supporting my campaign. I’m very proud of their support.

Note he said “I’m disappointed in General Powell” rather than that he was disappointed in the general’s decision. He’s expressing his disappointment in Powell the person, and my hunch is his feelings about Powell are more extreme than mere disappointment. I wonder if at some level McCain agrees with Limbaugh.

When McCain isn’t a presidential candidate and on his high horse surrounded by feverish fawning fans, General Powell, warts and all will stand far taller than he will. Powell is already and will remain a historic figure.

McCain will be relegated to being merely another losing presidential candidate exiled back to the Senate like John Kerry. I doubt he’ll even be able to claimthe unofficial title of leader of the Republican Party.

He’ll be a footnote in history unless he actually does something meaningful like Al Gore.

McCain isn’t taking the advice I heard on one of the talk shows. That is that when a candidate knows he’s going to loose he at least should make the last weeks of his campaign one his grandchildren will be proud of.

doug from canada

October 28, 2008 at 1:36 pm

McCain’s crude, racist and misogynist behavior – and it is clearly all of that, whatever his underlying belief or intent – is shocking and disgusting, but unfortunately not surprising. It’s not hard to figure out why 90% of African Americans who actually get to vote, vote Democrat. Unfortunately, I fear it’s for the same reason that many white Americans keep voting Republican.

And frankly, I don’t buy the excuses.

Yes, he was born in 1936, but he was the son and grandson of navy admirals; surely he was raised with a little more class than that. And by the mid-80’s he was nearly 50 years old – plenty old enough to make his own decisions about his attitudes and behavior, and too old to be using his background as an excuse.

I also don’t agree that we’re unfairly applying current standards to an era when standards were different. The 80’s weren’t much different from today, and the 90’s even less so.

I was born in 1961.

I was probably about three when I first learned “eeny, meeny, miney, moe, catch a tiger by the toe,…”. It wasn’t until much later that I learned that that wasn’t the original version. So even in 1964, there was an understanding at least in some part of society that using the “N-word” wasn’t appropriate.

When I was about 8 or 9 – so around 1970 – my next-door neighbor gave me her used copy of a book of cartoons from MAD magazine. My favorite cartoon in that book went something like this (substitute the racial epithet of your choice for xxx and yyy):

FIRST GUY: You know what I hate? I hate those xxx! They should go back to xxxland where they came from!
SECOND GUY: Oh yeah?
FIRST GUY: Yeah, and you know what else I hate? I hate those damn yyy! They should all go back to yyyland where they came from!
SECOND GUY: Well, you know what I hate? I hate bigots!
FIRST GUY: Yeah, they should all go back to Bigotland where they came from!

The point is that it was clear to me, as a nine-year-old in 1970, that racial bigotry and name-calling were ridiculous, stupid, offensive, and wrong. So how come, fifteen or twenty years later, John McCain still hadn’t figured that out?

It took a long time for the N-word and other racial/ethnic slurs to go from common usage to impolite to totally unacceptable, but that journey was pretty much complete by the end of the 70’s, at least where I live. (Sexist and homophobic remarks were about a decade behind.) Maybe things are different in Arizona, but McCain in the 80’s and 90’s must have known that his language and “humor” would have been considered reprehensible by a large proportion of the population. He sure couldn’t have used any of those lines in a press conference, or on the Senate floor. He had plenty of opportunity to see the error of his ways and change his attitudes and behavior, but apparently chose not to, except perhaps to the extent required by political expediency. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s all on him.

I must say I am disappointed, not just with the revelations here, but with the way McCain has run his entire campaign. I used to think the man had some degree of honor and decency, rare traits for a Republican; evidently I was wrong.

Hal Brown

November 5, 2008 at 2:20 pm

Fitting that this, the second most read column ever on Capitol Hill Blue, got it’s 100,000th hit on election day at around the same time Obama was declared the winner.

Almost all new reads come from web searches for the words McCain and rasism or racist.

ceejay2005

December 18, 2008 at 8:33 am

I’ve read articles on the web that said Obama was not born in USA but in Indonesia. That he is really a Muslim. That he is for Black Liberation. I read that he is friends with a domestic terrorist William Ayers. That his long time Minister and Mentor and Uncle Figure Jeremiah Wright is a racist. That he made an illegal deal with a man now convicted of felonies to buy his 7.1 million dollar mansion for 3 million under market value in return Obama gave the felon (Resko) 14 million dollars in earmarks. And on and on and on……… tell me is all this true????? The site listed below is just one example of where these calims are made. Should I believe all these things or should I as a responsible voter do my own research and make my own decisions???????Phoenix Doctors

tokmik

January 22, 2009 at 7:05 am

I saw a different hypocrisy which came with the religious right who saw and took their one chance at bringing Jesus Christ into the power of the Federal Government, under G.W. Bush. Nothing ever shook me any harder than this abuse of Christianity. I am not a Christian but to see how quickly millions of people fell into a movement of control nearly lost me my sanity.
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